Parents Are Fighting Back Against Graphic Sex Education

Parents Are Fighting Back Against Graphic Sex Education: Today, we’re talking about parental rights, something that has been greatly under attack for a couple of decades now. There have always been these attempts to get the government to replace the parent. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about the sex education that is going on across the country and what we can do to help move this in the right direction.

Transcription note: As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! We’re talking about today’s hottest topics on policy, faith, and other things that affect the culture. We always do that from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Tim Barton’s with us, national speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. My name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator.

You can find out more about us at WallBuildersLive.com. That’s our radio website where you can actually listen to the program there on the website. You can listen to archives of the program, you can get a list of stations around the country where you can find us.

And then also WallBuilders.com, that’s where you want to go for the tools that will help to equip and inspire you and your family to be better citizens. When I say tools, I mean things you can download, and read, CDs you can listen to, mp3s you can load up and listen to, videos you can watch with your family. Even curriculum that you can use in your Sunday school class to study the Constitution or to get into those foundations of freedom, so check all that out at WallBuilders.com.

David, Tim, we’ve got always a topic that somehow impacts the culture and then looking at it from a biblical perspective. Today, we’re going to talking about parental rights, something that has been greatly under attack for a couple of decades. If you remember in the Clinton years they wanted to do the U.N. treaty on the Rights of the Child which basically usurped the parent’s authority. In fact, they still try to get that through. Obama wanted to get it, Hillary was pushing it back when her husband was president. There’s always been these attempts to get the government to replace the parent and that the government knows better than the parent on what’s best for the child.

The Government Knows Better Than the Parent?

David:

Yeah, there’s a lot of that going on including even in California where you see what’s happening with counseling laws, and what you can and can’t tell kids, and here’s the message the state wants the kids to have, so we don’t want anybody say something different. Whether it be pastors, or religious counselors, or anything else. If parents take a child to a counselor we don’t want the counselor to be able to say whatever.

So, you’ve got a lot of this going on across the country. And I mentioned California, it’s also going on the East Coast as well. That law is actually showing up in a lot of states. But it all goes back to something that really, it’s the difference between opt in and opt out programs. This was sex ed, this was what happened with suicide education, this is what happened with drug education etc.

The Opt in kind said, “Hey you parents are in charge of what’s taught to your kids. You’re in charge of that. Here at school we can offer a suicide education program, but we need you parents to give us permission to have your kids in that. You can opt into that.” That says parents are the ones in charge and we’re coming alongside to help.

On the other side they say, “Hey, we’re going to teach every kid our view of what should happen with suicide prevention and if you don’t like that you can opt out.” Well, that puts the state in charge and now the parents are the ones that have been brought alongside and they can decide whether to go with what state wants. A whole different view – opt in opt out programs.

Rick:

David, from a practical point of view, just think of how that applies if somebody is wondering, “Well, what’s the big deal? There’s not a difference.” Opt in – that parent has to sign that form and get that thing back to the school before that kid’s going to be in that classroom and be exposed to that information. Opt out – the kid may not even get the form home to mom and dad, mom and dad may not have time to look at it, may not get it back. Just from a practical perspective, opt in makes sure that the parent is involved. Opt out, it’s very likely the parent may not even know it happened.

Whatever You Focus On People Are Going to Do

David:

That’s right. And that is often the case. By the way, I mentioned suicide education – the reason that they really don’t do that in schools anymore is they found that the more suicide prevention education they do the higher suicides went. And the more drug prevention education they did the more drug use occurred. It’s whatever you focus on people are going to start doing.

Rick:

That’s right. You’re planting that seed, then kids are thinking about it–

David:

That’s right.

Rick:

— even seeing that with the suicide programs on television that have increased suicides. Yes, it’s a bad deal.

David:

It’s a bad deal. Well, now they’re really getting into sex education in a very graphic way. Things that they want to teach students and they’re not really even giving the parents the opt in/opt out kind of options, “We’re going to do this and you don’t need to know about it. And by the way, this is what every kid needs to know.”

So, particularly in California, even in the very conservative areas of California– and there are many, many, many, conservative areas in California– they’re doing this really graphic sex education. And it’s striking because California law to this day still says the only sex ed you can do is abstinence. I’m just quoting from the law, it says, “You have to teach absence from sexual activity and injection drug use as the only certain way to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.” So, that’s called abstinence only curriculum.

Not Even Allowed in the Library!!

Well, what they’ve got now is a very different curriculum that advocates sexual activity starting down in the kindergarten level. They’re using books called It’s Perfectly Normal. Grab this – It’s Perfectly Normal is a book which is– critics call it cartoon porn because it’s got all these drawings of a nude couple together in bed and what they’re doing etc.. That book is so bad it’s even banned in libraries around the country. And it’s hard to get the library association to ban any book, but they ban that.

Rick:

And they’re using that in the schools.

David:

They’re teaching this in the schools. And so what’s going on in California pretty, pretty, amazing. But it is a great example of where America is headed when parents get left out. Parents need to get right in the center of all this stuff. And hopefully there’ll be an uprising on this in California and something will get done.

Rick:

Speaking of a great example, it’s a great example, also, of parents that are getting involved and standing up against this. In fact, one of them is going to be with us when we come back from the break. Amy Haywood, our special guest today. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Leadership Training Program

Rick:

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Tim:

Yeah, Rick, it’s something that’s been cool to see the transformation with young people coming in. The emphasis, for us, largely is a pursuit of truth. We have a culture that doesn’t know what truth is. We don’t know what biblical truth is, or constitutional truth, or the American heritage that we have. And so we really dive into original documents and say, “Well, what did they actually write? What did they actually do? Not just what did somebody say, what is actually true, and the truth is what’s transformational.

David:

Yeah, guys. This really is a remarkable opportunity. And for those who want to spend time with us and spend time in the original documents, this is a great program. So, if you’re from 18 to 25, or you know someone who’s 18 to 25, send them to sign up for one of our three sessions this summer at WallBuilders.com/leadershiptraining.

Hi friends! This is Tim Barton of WallBuilders.This is a time when most Americans don’t know much about American history or even heroes of the faith. I know, oftentimes as parents, we’re trying to find good content for our kids to read.

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Rick:

Welcome back, thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live! Once again, California leading the way in a not so positive way. Parents are leading the way in a positive way fighting back against school districts that are forcing some really graphic sex ed on young kids – 10, 11, 12, years old. And fortunately there are some wonderful parent leaders out there helping to fight this. Amy Haywood is with us. She’s right in the thick of it. Amy, thanks for coming on with us.

Amy:

Thank you for having me.

Rick:

Hey, you’ve been working on this one. It looks like finally getting at least some attention from the school board who wanted to ignore you guys on this. But let’s back up and tell folks what we’re talking about here when we refer to this sex ed curriculum that’s being pushed in San Diego and actually, across the whole country. This is not uncommon these days. Tell us how you first became aware of it and why you decided to take up the torch in this fight?

Why Take Up the Torch?

Amy:

I first became involved in the fight because I found some transgender content on my second graders * program. And so I thought, “How is this even legal? I didn’t approve this.” So, I started researching it and I found out that because of the Fair Education Act it was not only legal, we were going to be seeing more of it. But–

Rick:

And the Fair Education Act, that’s a California law or a federal law?

Amy:

It’s a California law SB48.

Rick:

California, okay.

Amy:

It was passed in 2011. So, it– actually having the content on my daughter’s computer wasn’t necessarily legal because the school system is supposed to follow a process for getting curriculum into the schools and parents are supposed to be involved. So, but I brought it up to the principal and she said, she was surprised, she didn’t know it was on there. And we have an excellent Elementary School, she didn’t know it was on there. That’s kind of what started me into researching all of this and then I got connected with the parents of San Diego Unified.

Now, I’m not in San Diego Unified, we’re in a neighboring school district. I got in touch with the parents of San Diego Unified and learned about their rally. And then California Family Council, I’ve been writing some pieces for them. They asked me to cover the parent rally in San Diego Unified, so I did. Then I also researched the rights respect responsibility which is the curriculum that’s being used currently in San Diego Unified.

They’re Doing This With Middle Schoolers?!

Rick:

Obviously, with our public audience in all ages and all that will limit how much we describe this, but we’re talking about a curriculum that targets 11-12– well, I guess it’s all all ages. But the particular parts that have been exposed, I think, and concern people the most – 11, 12, and 13, year olds being told that all kinds of very inappropriate things are okay and describing some some things that I can’t imagine teaching even a 15 or 16 year old. But they’re doing this with middle schoolers.

Amy:

That is correct. Another school system right now is fighting the same curriculum, *, and that’s kind of the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, that area. But the school system is trying to start this in fourth grade. But the law, the California Healthy Youth Act, says they only have to be taught, that comprehensive sexuality education only have to be taught once in seventh grade and once in high school. So, they don’t need to teach this Advocates for Youth Rights Respect Responsibility curriculum in fourth grade at all.

Rick:

As I understand it, they are unapologetic about the fact that this is a curriculum that is “supportive of all gender expressions”. They want to challenge the two basic gender biology that has been accepted throughout history until the last 10 years. But they’re blatant about it, they’re saying this is part of our curriculum’s goal.

Amy:

Oh yeah. And it’s been very difficult to get, at least in San Diego, the school board to take the parent seriously.

Rick:

In fact, they kind of blew you guys off. In fact, it sounds like the president the school board even actively asked the media not to cover the event saying nobody was going to show up anyway.

Amy:

That is correct. Then when a news story came out from, I believe it was * who went ahead and covered the event, the school district called the TV station and asked them to reduce the story on it.

They Asked Them Not to Cover the Story

Rick:

Oh, I didn’t know this part. Wait a minute – they asked them not to cover the story. You’re kidding. Not only asked them not to come, but then once they did report it asked them to pull it.

Amy:

Yeah, and they did pull it, they did pull the story until they started getting complaints and then they put it back up.

Rick:

Wow. Okay, so, now that parents are getting informed, what’s happening? Is the school board even giving you a voice? Are they backing off at all? Or what’s the response so far? I think you all have delivered something like 4500 or so signatures and had 100 people there. Parents are not very pleased.

Amy:

As far as I know, they have not responded. I haven’t heard that they’ve responded. Now, that particular school board meeting the parents chose to speak in the public comment period and the school district did not have to respond actually in the meeting. The school board members did not have to respond to that because it was not on the agenda. But an open request for records had happened and it’s been months and the school system has not released the records that were requested. So, they’re really dragging their feet on responding to the parents.

Rick:

I’m trying to think of how to describe some of the more graphic parts so our audience knows just how bad this is. Obviously, warning to parents for any of this particular program if you’ve got little kids with you listening maybe change the channel and go back and listen online later. But I think we can definitely say they describe homosexual sex graphically, they include cartoon pictures in one of the books that comes with this of all types of sexual acts, and that’s going to sixth graders.

No Question About the Graphicness

Rick:

There’s no question about how graphic and bad the curriculum is. They’re not even apologizing for that though. They’re saying, “No, this is this is okay.” The tone, if I understand correctly, is not these things can cause emotional issues, stay away from it. It’s, “Hey, you’re going to engage in all this. Let us tell you the safest way to do it.” There’s very little, if any, encouragement of abstinence.

Amy:

That is correct.

Rick:

Even the links to the video of an abstinence speaker is a derogatory link saying this is where they’re trying to shame you for engaging in sex acts, again, as kids basically. So, it’s a very negative even reference to an abstinence program.

Amy:

That’s right and some school districts are even saying, in particular, Orange County is even saying that you can opt your kids out of the parts that talk about human reproduction and their function, but you cannot opt your children out of instruction that discusses gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, relationships, and an otherwise different family structures.

Rick:

Well, of course not, Amy, because the state knows better than you as a parent and they need to educate your child in all of these things that are exactly the opposite of your closely held religious beliefs and they don’t want you getting in the way.

Amy:

That’s right.

Rick:

Wow.

Afraid to Speak the Truth

Amy:

It’s extremely concerning and I– part of the issue, too, that we’ve encountered here is that people sometimes are very * to speak up. People that are on our side, even church pastors believe it or not. I really think that congregations need to lobby their pastors to speak up about this little big way.

Rick:

I agree with you.

Amy:

Because our children are not safe.

Rick:

No, you’re spot on, Amy, because there is such an intimidation factor out there that if you in any way resists this agenda that you’re a bigot, and hateful, and all the labels that they’ve created, and all the words they’ve basically stolen from the English language. And so even pastors, we want to be loving and we want all those things. And yes, of course we want to speak the truth in love. But they’re so afraid to speak truth and it be mislabeled that they’re not speaking at all. So, I agree with you 100 percent.

And what surprises me here, obviously, you’re there, you’ve got a better handle on this. I know you’re from God’s country here in Texas, but you live in California and been there a while. So, I thought San Diego was more of the conservative part of the California– Now, granted, that everything’s relative in this case. But this is San Diego we’re talking about here. This is not San Francisco or Sacramento.

Amy:

Right, but for some reason the school district, San Diego Unified, is extremely liberal. And *, where I live, it tends to be more conservative. But San Diego Unified, it has an LGBTQ advisory board with members of * on the advisory board and they have full access to the school. My question is, have any Christians or conservatives been invited to the table for some of these decisions? I think the answer’s pretty obvious.

Rick:

I can’t help but think, Amy, I’m not going to name them at the moment, but I know of at least four megachurches in San Diego that if everybody got involved and voted you guys could take over that school board.

It Has to Happen

Amy:

I completely agree.

Rick:

Yeah.

Amy:

I completely agree.

Rick:

Let alone the other 100-150 churches that could easily get involved and throw 500 votes that way and it needs to happen. It has to happen. And we’ve seen it happen in other places in the country. The tools are there it can happen in California. You guys could actually make that happen. I encourage our listeners all over the country to be praying for San Diego and praying for the people that live in these school districts.

But all of our listeners in that area, Amy’s right, go talk to your pastor, say, “This is something we have to– We’ve got to get involved in this particular fight.” Even to parents that don’t go to the public schools, you homeschool or you private school, this still impacts your community, so you should still speak up and show up at these meetings and have a voice on this.

Amy, what can people right now, our listeners in that area, what would you encourage them to do?

Amy:

Well, that’s exactly right, I would say that homeschool parents and private school parents, who have pulled their children from the schools for these very reasons, we need them to stand with us in public schools. Because they are our strongest voices and if they’re neutralized that’s no help to us. If you think it’s not going to affect homeschool or private school in the long run, you’re mistaken. So, you need to start fighting now because it’s just a matter of time.

What You Can Do

Rick:

Yeah.

Amy:

The other thing I would say is that, for me, I’ve already contacted our school board president, I have contacted the superintendent, I’ve spoken with one of the people at learning support services who’s in charge of curriculum for elementary school students in my district. And I just warned them about what’s coming down the pike. I pointed out policies that are coming, I pointed out things that are required and that aren’t required that they may not have been aware of.

And so I’ve met with my daughter’s principal, I’ve met with my daughter’s teacher to lay out my expectations. And I’ve talked with the executive board of the PTA, I’ve sent them just information about the education act.

So, we’re not really seeing it too much in our district right now. But it is coming and people need to be aware of that and they need to be proactive. Start attending the school board meetings, run for school board if you can.

Rick:

Yeah.

Amy:

Run for your PTA, get involved on any committee. Because some schools are setting up advisory committees and there’s one in Moraga California right now and some of the things that are being proposed are in support of these very issues and it is very secretive.

So, in one of the Magos science classes, this is a few months ago, seventh grade science class, the school psychologist taught the kids a lesson from an organization called gender spectrum. It had the Jinder unicorn and the school psychologist told the kids there were 60 something genders. It’s not science, it’s not truth. But she presented it as if it were scientific.

For the Protection of Your Children

Amy:

So, the parents in a case like that, I know they’re close to San Francisco, and I know that it’s hard to speak out. You don’t want to become a target. You’re just going out to get over that. For the protection of your children you have to speak up.

Rick:

Amen. No doubt. No doubt. Amy, thank you for leading, for stepping up on this, for rallying others to do the same. You guys are– you’re facing an incredible battle in California. Delaware’s dealing with the same thing. Massachusetts–,this is happening all over the country.

But you guys, again, tip of the spear on this one, so keep the battle up. Please let us know how this goes. Keep us updated and hopefully have you back to discuss a great victory there at some point from Christians getting involved and letting their voice be heard.

Amy:

I’m very hopeful. Thank you so much, Rick. I really appreciate it.

Rick:

That’s Amy Haywood. Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

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Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! We’re back now with David and Tim Barton. Thanks to Amy Haywood for coming on with us. Thanks for her standing up and other parents that are teaming up with her.

David, Tim, man you mentioned, David, there’s conservative places in California. This is happening all across the state. I can’t imagine– they have to feel like when the school board is that adamant about pushing this kind of an agenda in the classroom these parents have to feel like they’re outgunned, but they’re still willing to stand up and fight here. If other parents find out about it I think they will win. But you’ve got to get people informed.

David:

Well, isn’t it amazing that the San Diego school board went to the media and said to the media, “Hey, pull the story. Don’t run it. We don’t want to tell the public what we’re doing.”

Rick:

Unreal.

Parents vs. The State

David:

So, this is a thing where you can certainly see it’s parents versus the state and the state doesn’t even want the parents know what’s going on. And you even made a sarcastic comment about it’s parents versus the state, but the conditions are so bad out there that she took you seriously. She didn’t even recognize it as a sarcastic comment because that’s the middle of where they are right now.

Rick:

Yeah.

David:

And so even as Amy said that teachers present not the genders that are scientific, but they present their viewpoint and they present like it is scientific. And that’s where parents have to get involved. She mentioned that it’s hard to get the San Diego school board to take parents seriously. That’s because school board elections generally generate only 6 percent turnout. And if only 6 percent are going to turn out why would the school board take anybody serious?

Tim:

Well, yeah, we just had a school board election in the town where my wife and I live in Weatherford Texas. It’s town of more than 40,000 people and the guy that won the school board seat won with 826 votes or something like that. It’s such a small percentage of people that get involved in this process. And when you look at some of these really big towns. I’ve never seen a school board with more than like 2000 votes and that’s like in Fort Worth where there’s hundreds of thousands of people.

There’s just not many people that get involved in this level and that’s why the school board can feel like they’re relatively invincible because nobody’s going to come and hold them accountable. And actually, most parents don’t show up at school board meetings, most parents don’t know what’s in the curriculum, most parents aren’t aware of what’s going on. Which, of course, is why we appreciate Amy and what she’s doing.

It Should Be a Movie Except it’s Real Life

Tim:

But then when you have parents that are trying to find out what’s going on and the school board is trying to cover it up, and use the news media, and, “Hey, don’t report on this. And well, okay, so you’ve already ran the story, but could you take it down?” This is just crazy the kind of stuff. It seems like this should be a movie except this is real life. But it also indicates a school board knows how bad this is or they wouldn’t be trying to cover it up.

David:

Yeah, they know how bad. And by the way, for people who say, “Man, that’s that goofy California again.” No, this is going on all over the nation. And it is now a mentality where that they don’t inform parents what they’re doing. So, you can’t assume that, “Well, I live in Oklahoma. They wouldn’t be teaching that here.”

The number one provider of sex education curriculum in America is Planned Parenthood and that’s even in the rural communities. It’s just that most parents don’t know about it. And as Tim said, the voter turnout is so low that this can go on anywhere, but it can be fixed anywhere if parents get involved and ask questions.

Tim:

And this is one of the things that the school board does have a lot of sway over what curriculum is used. So, this is why it’s so important to get plugged into a school board to have people from your community that you know, that you trust, to get them elected to the school board, so you have the right kind of morals and values, so we can choose the right kind of curriculum.

But, dad, as you mentioned, this is literally being taught in places like Oklahoma, and Texas, and Arkansas, where you would think, “No, there’s no way.” You would be shocked at what some of the public schools. Now, again, it’s some of the public schools because not every school board supports this.

Parents Are Fighting Back Against Graphic Sex Education

Tim:

But there are schools in Oklahoma, there are schools in Texas, there are schools in Arkansas and Louisiana. We can point to schools where this kind of curriculum is being used. Graphic in nature, incredibly vile, but it’s a reflection that the people, the community, don’t know and therefore haven’t gotten involved to make a fix. And this is why we have to be informed and get involved.

Rick:

Like you said, Tim, it’s usually a handful of votes that makes a difference especially in these local elections. You’ve got to get more engaged, you’ve got to get people informed about it. Thanks for listening today, folks. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.

WALLBUILDERS LIVE! with David Barton, Tim Barton and Rick Green is a daily journey into the past to capture the ideas of the Founding Fathers of America and then apply them to the major issues of today. Featured guests will include Congressmen, Senators, and other elected officials, as well as experts, activists, authors, and commentators on a variety of issues facing America.